


you'll ruin my reputation

by wildmiracle



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M, can't get off this ride, i certainly don't know - Freeform, mAYBE it's slash, maybe it isn't, yes i'm still on my buffy kick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28971939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildmiracle/pseuds/wildmiracle
Summary: In which Willow is taken by the Initiative after they find out she’s a witch and Spike, just this once, is the knight in shining armor.
Relationships: Willow Rosenberg & Spike, Willow Rosenberg/Spike
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	you'll ruin my reputation

Willow would’ve much preferred to stay unconscious, but her body had other ideas. The fluorescent light beat at her eyelids, leaving her with no choice but to come to. As her eyes opened, she winced at the sterility of the four walls around her. She knew instantly where she was. She’d known it was coming as soon as she saw the look on Professor Walsh’s face when she had caught (more like levitated) Riley’s books after they’d bumped into each other as they were leaving class Tuesday. With any other person, she would’ve been sure they would explain it away as a trick of the light or not getting enough sleep the night before, but that was never going to be enough for Professor Walsh. Riley had caught her eyes with a chiding but concerned look, and Willow had pretended like she wasn’t worried, but they all knew she was going to end up in the Initiative cell block sooner or later. 

She forced her eyes to focus when she heard the doors to her cell open, looking around frantically. She took stock of her injuries; she was bruised black and blue everywhere her t-shirt didn’t cover her pale skin. She shuddered to think what it looked like beneath the cotton, remembering the shock of pain across her ribs when she’d been nailed with a baton by a particularly eager soldier. They’d stuck an IV in her arm, and there were already more than a couple bags of her blood piling up on the IV pole beside her cot. Willow looked up to see two boys strolling towards her. One carried a tray of what looked like bad cafeteria food. She recognized them. She had been in math with both of them last semester. If they remembered her, they didn’t show it, keeping a stony expression as they drew up to the bed.

“We need you to come with us, Prisoner 78.”

She rolled her eyes at this. 

“Sam, I know for a fact that you cheated off my quizzes at least once a week all last fall. You know my name is Willow.”

Sam didn’t blink an eye at this, although Ethan, the boy holding the tray with three week old cheeseburger, smirked. 

“Now, Prisoner 78.”

Willow sat up, only to slump back down as her vision blacked out. As she waited for it to come back, she assessed her options. 

1\. Allow them to take her and do whatever it is military goons do to witches and hope she survived.

2\. Fight like hell. 

She felt four rough hands grab her on either side and pick her up. She screamed and started flailing, trying her best to kick anywhere that could possibly do any damage. Sam and Ethan held her aloft between them, their more than six feet of height easily keeping her legs from getting anywhere near the ground. She yelled again, and tried to levitate the IV pole into Ethan but it only gave a little shake. The effort of creating that tiny quiver was enough to make her nearly pass out, but she bit down on her lip, hard enough that she felt it burst against her teeth. The blood dripped down her chin. In a last ditch effort, she swung herself into Sam, somehow gaining enough momentum to knock him over, sending her to the floor with a terrible thud.

If her ribs weren’t cracked before, they certainly were now. Willow allowed a tiny whimper to escape, curling up on herself to prevent any further damage. She braced herself for a blow, and was surprised when it didn’t come. Instead, she heard the sound of a combat boot hitting bodies and an indelicate yelp from Ethan as he went flying across the room to slam into the wall. 

By the time she had gathered herself enough to even think about lifting her head, the boys were groaning in harmony. Willow felt cold hands on her, moving quickly to look for injuries, wiping at her chin. She forced herself to look up, only to see Spike sucking on a finger covered in her blood, fully vamped out. 

Willow scrambled across the cell floor, frantically looking around to see if there was anything even vaguely pointy about. 

“Stay away from me, Spike!”

“Well, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed.” Spike commented, putting his hands up and returning his face to its human form. If she didn’t know better, she would say that he looked hurt. There was a little bit of her blood at the corner of his mouth, and she suddenly thought she might throw up.

“I’ll forgive you this time, as you’ve had a shock. But the least I could get is a little appreciation around here.” He moved closer to her, and she curled up tight, putting her hands out and summoning the tiniest lick of a flame. It petered out instantly, leaving her unable to see straight and with a numbness in her arms and legs that made the odds of her escaping seem more and more unlikely by the moment. 

Spike rolled his eyes. “Oh please, I’m not going to hurt you. Half dead witches are hardly my thing.” He stepped in closer only to move away again when Willow flinched. 

“Come on, Red. Don’t make this rescue mission any more of an embarrassment than it has to be.” His tone was strangely soft, and she allowed him closer to feel at her ribs, crying out when he poked the wrong spot. He murmured an apology and ripped the sheet on the bed next to them to create a rag. “Here. You’ve got some… blood.” He looked away as she started to wipe it up, almost as though he was giving her privacy to undress.

It was only then that she registered what he had said.

“Rescue mission?” There couldn’t have been more shock in her tone if the whole world had literally turned upside down and Spike himself had turned into a bunny rabbit.

“Well it was bloody well supposed to be! I’d been led to believe damsels in distress were more compliant than this. ” His frustration didn’t quite sink into his words, and he very gently reached his arms under her and picked her up. She let out a groan as he jostled her slightly as he positioned her in a bridal carry. He hummed apologetically, hooking an arm under her knees with a featherlike touch. Willow was too tired to fight anymore, and she let herself go limp, her head resting against his chest. 

“Where are you taking me?” she asked listlessly. 

“I’m bringing you back to the Slayer. God, ye of little fate.”

She felt her brow furrow, in the process wrinkling up a scratch on her eyebrow and wincing at the sting. 

“Do you promise?” 

Spike heaved a sigh. “Really Red, what would you do if I was lying? I don’t know if you’re aware, but you’re quite helpless at the minute.”

Willow had no respectable response to that, so she shut her eyes and allowed herself to relax into Spike’s hold. 

“I’m not lying by the way. I am taking you to Buffy. I wouldn't… I’m not going to do anything to you.”

Something about the steadiness of Spike’s voice and the firm thereness of him made Willow believe him. She opened her eyes to look up at him. They were in the elevator now, headed up towards the topside of Sunnydale and towards the Scoobies. Alarms were blaring and a red light was flashing frantically, but Spike seemed utterly unconcerned with all of that. He looked down at her, his jaw tight. His blue eyes were surprisingly concerned. 

“Should I be taking you to a hospital instead of to Buffy?” he asked, his grip tightening on her ever so slightly. 

Willow closed her eyes again.

“No, take me to Giles’s house. She’ll probably be there anyway, and Giles will know what to do.” 

He hummed his understanding, and she felt the purr of it in his chest, next to her ear. She smiled the tiniest bit. 

“A heroic vampire. Whodathunkit?” 

She cracked an eye open to see Spike pursing his lips in a way that indicated he was working very hard to hide a pleased smile. 

“Don’t go around town saying that. You’ll ruin my reputation.”


End file.
